LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Chief Siraj ul Haq has announced nationwide protests on Friday, May 21 against Israel’s oppression in Gaza.
The JI chief, in a statement, called on the nation to take part in the protest for the rights of Palestinians, adding that human tragedies are taking place on a daily basis in the occupied land of Palestine.
Haq said, “The United Nations and American human rights activists are deaf and dumb, calling upon the Muslim Ummah to stand with the Palestinians during their hour of need.”
Muslim rulers must go beyond statements and tweets, urging Muslim countries to formulate a plan of action to protect the lives, property, and honour of the citizens of Gaza, he stressed.
Sources said the JI chief will lead protests in Islamabad against the massacre in Gaza being conducted by the Israeli Army.
Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip has entered its seventh consecutive day, with air raids killing at least four Palestinians, injuring several others and flattening at least two residential buildings on Sunday.
At least four Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes across the coastal enclave, health officials said, and many were injured as the sounds of heavy bombardment also targeted the home of Gaza’s Hamas chief, Yehya al-Sinwar.
Since Monday Israeli air and artillery strikes on Gaza have killed 150 people including 41 children and injured another 1,100, health officials say, the worst violence in the region in seven years.
Palestinian armed groups have fired at least 2,300 rockets at Israel, killing 10 people, including a child and a soldier, and wounding over 560 Israelis. Israeli air defenses have intercepted many rockets.
US Secretary for Israel-Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr was to hold talks Sunday with Israeli leaders before meeting Palestinian officials to seek a sustainable calm, the State Department said. The UN Security Council was to meet Sunday to discuss the violence and plans to stop further losses.
The latest outburst of violence began in Jerusalem and has spread across the region, with Jewish-Arab clashes and rioting in mixed cities of Israel. There were also widespread Palestinian protests Friday in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces shot and killed 11 people.
